CHINA GP – FRIDAY PRACTICE RESULTS

PRACTICE TWO

The second free practice session saw the Scuderia Ferrari drivers finish second and fourth, with Kimi Raikkonen (1.37.662) and Sebastian Vettel (1.38.339) respectively. The afternoon programme included a comparison of the two tyre compounds and some long runs. The session ran without a hitch. Fastest was Lewis Hamilton who posted a 1.37.219 in his Mercedes, while Daniel Ricciardo (1.38.311) split the two Ferraris in his Red Bull. [ferrari.com] FP2 Times:

Pos

Driver

Car

Time

Gap

Laps

1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1m37.219s

–

32

2

Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari

1m37.662s

0.443s

35

3

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull/Renault

1m38.311s

1.092s

24

4

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1m38.339s

1.120s

30

5

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes

1m38.399s

1.180s

35

6

Daniil Kvyat

Red Bull/Renault

1m38.737s

1.518s

10

7

Valtteri Bottas

Williams/Mercedes

1m38.850s

1.631s

27

8

Felipe Nasr

Sauber/Ferrari

1m39.032s

1.813s

26

9

Romain Grosjean

Lotus/Mercedes

1m39.142s

1.923s

32

10

Jenson Button

McLaren/Honda

1m39.275s

2.056s

29

11

Pastor Maldonado

Lotus/Mercedes

1m39.444s

2.225s

30

12

Fernando Alonso

McLaren/Honda

1m39.743s

2.524s

27

13

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber/Ferrari

1m39.751s

2.532s

33

14

Max Verstappen

Toro Rosso/Renault

1m39.894s

2.675s

32

15

Carlos Sainz

Toro Rosso/Renault

1m39.971s

2.752s

28

16

Nico Hulkenberg

Force India/Mercedes

1m40.151s

2.932s

28

17

Felipe Massa

Williams/Mercedes

1m40.423s

3.204s

7

18

Sergio Perez

Force India/Mercedes

1m40.868s

3.649s

24

19

Roberto Merhi

Marussia/Ferrari

1m42.973s

5.754s

27

20

Will Stevens

Marussia/Ferrari

1m44.564s

7.345s

8

VIDEO

Onboard Kimi Kimi team radio on brakes Raikkonen and Rosberg’s little tussle

QUOTES + STUFF

From Scuderia Ferrari – Kimi: “Overall it has been a good day of work. In the afternoon we had a problem with the brakes but the mechanics did a very good job and managed to fix it, then I was able to go back on track and go on with the programme. It’s a bit early to make predictions, we still have things to improve, tomorrow we have to make sure that everything works and have another good day without any issues or problems and then we’ll do our best for qualifying and the race.”

From crash.net – Kimi: “The morning was not so easy because we found some small issues, then when we went out in the afternoon we had some problems with the brakes and we had to change them. The mechanics did a good job changing the brakes, but we managed to do more or less what we wanted to do. We need to do another good day tomorrow and avoid any issues and problems, qualify good and then see what we can do in the race.”

Rosberg on his #FP2 tussle with Raikkonen: “That was quite a tight one. He didn’t leave much space in Turn 2, but fair play” #ChineseGP — Formula 1 (@F1) April 10, 2015

PRACTICE ONE

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the World Championship, which got underway this morning in Shanghai. Behind the Englishman, who did a 1.39.033, was his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg (1.39.574) and the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel (1.40.157) and Kimi Raikkonen (1.40.661). On the agenda for the Ferrari men, aerodynamic and mechanical set-up work, using two sets of the Medium tyre under a pale sun hanging over the Chinese track, with slightly warmer temperatures than in the past few days. [ferrari.com] FP1 Times:

A pole position for any Ferrari is miles away, but don’t be surprised if you spot 2 Ferrari drivers on the podium. They have much better tyre degradation than Mercs. Also, both Ferraris were good on straights, so overtaking won’t be a problem if they can get into <1.0 second for DRS activation.

The overall impression of the season’s beginning is rather promising than disappointing. Hope for a constant good performance by Kimi, and also by Seb, naturally. Kimi also seems to be satisfied and good-humoured, this makes me and all Kimi fans happy.
🙂

All the weight is on the Ferrari Team to give Kimi a good grid position. We all know Kimi’s pace and strength during the race so it all depends on the Team, They’d better not mess up this time around!
Looking at kimi’s handling of the car, its pretty clear that they made a car to Kimi’s liking. Good grip on the front end and delicate on Tyre ware (James Allison trademark). Mercedes on the other hand are fast on speed but aggressive on the Tyre ware, Ferrari knows this and should exploit it…..

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KRS NOTICE

Hello! Thanks for dropping by. Since the 2015 Italian GP I had decided to take a break away from this website because I can no longer take this sport seriously after Ferrari proved yet again how they consider Kimi as just a support driver for Vettel. It's a disgrace. Updates will continue on our Facebook and Twitter pages however, with a sometimes bitter and sarcastic tone as you'd expect from a heartbroken fan.
~ EvenstarSaima